New Delhi, Oct 18: The Highways Ministry has invoked the newly introduced provision of the catastrophic failure clause against two highway developers for major structural failures on National Highways projects.
The provisions of the catastrophic event allow highway-owning agencies to bar highway developers for two years from bidding for new projects. Such highway builders also face negative ratings that will adversely impact their chances of getting future projects.
According to documents accessed by PTI, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has notified a catastrophic event in a project comprising the four-lane Poondiankuppam-Sattanatharupam section of NH-45 (New NH-32) from km 67 to km 123 in Tamil Nadu under HAM mode.
“The bid project cost was Rs 2,120 crore, and it was awarded to M/S Poonadinkuppam Sattanathapuram Section Private Limited (Promoters-M/s Oriental) under a concession agreement. The appointed date of the project was January 20, 2022, with a scheduled completion date of January 19, 2024.
“M/s Theme Engineering Services Private Limited has been appointed as the independent engineer,” the ministry’s order said.
The order document further said that at approximately 0030 hours on April 6, 2026, substantial settlement of the pavement quality concrete of approximately 2 metres was observed on the main carriageway at the approach to the light vehicle underpass at km 105+220 on the Kollidam Bypass. The incident was accompanied by bulging, cracking and horizontal displacement of the reinforced earth.
In the second case, the project comprises the widening and strengthening of approximately 45 km of NH-727B from km 61.500 near Nawalpur to km 106.495 near Sikanderpur, to two -lane with paved shoulder/ four-lane with paved shoulder configuration under the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) mode in Uttar Pradesh. (PTI)